My partner and I are hoping to acquire a property in Westcombe Park and are in fact using a Westcombe Park conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. HSBC Bank have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Westcombe Park solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Westcombe Park lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
My wife and I are refinancing our flat in Westcombe Park with Principality. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Principality conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his entitlement to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Principality conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Principality. This is solely used to protect Principality if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Principality had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
I currently have a mortgage with TSB for my property in Westcombe Park. Conveyancing has been completed some time ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform TSB?
Your original mortgage agreement with TSB will provide that you need their approval in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of TSB’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact TSB directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a TSB conveyancing panel solicitor.
Having read lots of mortgage guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Westcombe Park solicitor - who is on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Coventry BS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Coventry BS will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Westcombe Park surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
Yorkshire BS have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a flat in Westcombe Park has been accepted, what happens next?
Your estate agent will need to know who your solicitors are (ensure that the solicitors are on the lender’s approved list). Call up Yorkshire BS or the financial adviser and complete any appropriate documentation. Yorkshire BS will appoint a valuer who will get in touch with the estate agent or vendor to book a slot for the valuation to occur. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes about a week for the mortgage offer to be issued. Yorkshire BS will issue the offer to you and your solicitors. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Westcombe Park.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Westcombe Park. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.
Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Westcombe Park
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The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier?
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Westcombe Park in advance of instructing conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the house. The surveyor advised that some banks may refuse to issue a loan on such a property.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Nationwide. If you contact us we can look into this further with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Westcombe Park. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Westcombe Park to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
I am short of a 10% deposit on my flat purchase in Westcombe Park , but I am anxious exchange. Do I have options?
You can agree a lower deposit. Many vendors will agree to a lesser deposit or even no deposit for a first time buyer or 100% mortgage. Be aware though that if you fail to complete you will still need to hand over a minimum of 10% of the purchase price regardless of how much deposit was agreed.
You can also agree a simultaneous exchange and completion as no deposit is required for this however neither party will be tied in until completion actually takes place and it can be risky if sellers change their mind at the last moment